Lewis Hamilton warned about repeat of Daniel Ricciardo failure

Lewis Hamilton has been warned that he could struggle to adapt to life at Ferrari similar to how Daniel Ricciardo failed to at McLaren.

Despite winning the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo’s short-lived spell with McLaren was ultimately unsuccessful. After two difficult campaigns, the Australian was effectively sacked by McLaren with a year to run on his contract.

Ricciardo’s performances were generally disappointing and he was compressively beaten by teammate Lando Norris as he struggled to get to grips with McLaren’s 2021 and 2022 cars.

Hamilton, who has completed a bombshell switch from Mercedes to Ferrari, has now been reminded about Ricciardo’s failure by former F1 driver and Sky Sports pundit Anthony Davidson.

“The controls like the pedals, the steering wheel of the car [are things he will have to adapt to],” Davidson told RacingNews365.

“We’ve heard lots of different drivers in the past, like Kimi [Raikkonen] when he went to Ferrari [in 2007] complaining about the steering compared to his McLaren days.

“Daniel Ricciardo, when he moved to McLaren and struggled with the brakes, he never got to grips with it.

“Sometimes, it will never feel like the car you want it to in terms of controls, no matter how much you work with the engineers to try and rectify it.

“Hopefully, for his sake, he is lucky and it all feels intuitive, it feels like the Mercedes he is used to and he can hit the ground running, but there is always the chance that when a driver moves team, it never quite feels like home for some reason.”

Hamilton “right at home” at Ferrari

The early steps for Hamilton adaptation to Ferrari’s cars have reportedly been positive.

According to Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport, the seven-time world champion is said to have “praised the performance” of Ferrari’s Brembo brakes system and found it “suitable for his driving style”.

Hamilton is also reported to have successfully familiarised himself with start procedures, pedals and how the Ferrari clutch is operated.

The 40-year-old Briton has undergone an extensive pre-season testing programme with Ferrari, driving both their 2023 and 2024 cars at Fiorano and Barcelona respectively.

Hamilton indicated he is already loving life at Ferrari, having posted he is “feeling right at home” on social media following his recent tests with the Italian team.